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Growth at a Reasonable Price (GARP) is a strategy that aims to highlight companies that are growing but still reasonably priced by the market. It's an approach suggested by journalist and investor David Stevenson in his book, Smarter Stock Picking. It uses a combination of value, growth, quality and momentum measures. They include earnings-per-share growth, a below average price-to-earnings ratio, a high return on capital employed and a share price with positive relative strength. David Stevenson says: "At the core of GARP is is a simple desire: to benefit from a double whammy of growing earnings and a growing PE ratio that reflects this growth of earnings." more »

The Market Cap is a measure of a company's size - or specifically its total equity valuation. It is calculated by multiplying the current Share Price by the current number of Shares Outstanding. It is stated in Pounds Sterling.

Stockopedia explains Mkt Cap £m...

Market Capitalisation only takes into account the value of the company's shares (equity), it ignores the amount of debt a company may have taken on and therefore isn't the best indicator of the company's size. The Enterprise Value adds the net debt to the Market Cap and is a better indicator of the minimum amount that an acquiring company may have to pay to buy the firm outright.

The Price to Earnings Ratio (also called the PE ratio) is the primary valuation ratio used by most equity investors. It is a measure of the price paid for a share relative to the annual net income or profit earned by the firm per share.A hig P/E ratio means that investors are paying more for each unit of net income, so the stock is more expensive compared to one with a lower P/E ratio. The P/E ratio can be seen as being expressed in years, in the sense that it shows the number of years of earnings which would be required to pay back the purchase price, ignoring inflation. Unlike the EV/EBITDA multiple which is capital structure-neutral, the price-to-earnings ratio reflects the capital structure of the company in question. The reciprocal of the P/E ratio is known as the earnings yield.

Stockopedia explains P/E...

This is is the primary valuation ratio used by most equity investors. A high P/E ratio means that investors are paying more for each unit of net income, so the stock is more expensive compared to one with a lower P/E ratio. The P/E ratio can be seen as being expressed in years, in the sense that it shows the number of years of earnings which would be required to pay back the purchase price, ignoring inflation.
Unlike the EV/EBITDA multiple which is capital structure-neutral, the price-to-earnings ratio reflects the capital structure of the company in question

The Price to Earnings Ratio (also called the PE ratio) is the primary valuation ratio used by most equity investors. It is a measure of the price paid for a share relative to the annual net income or profit earned by the firm per share.A hig P/E ratio means that investors are paying more for each unit of net income, so the stock is more expensive compared to one with a lower P/E ratio. The P/E ratio can be seen as being expressed in years, in the sense that it shows the number of years of earnings which would be required to pay back the purchase price, ignoring inflation. Unlike the EV/EBITDA multiple which is capital structure-neutral, the price-to-earnings ratio reflects the capital structure of the company in question. The reciprocal of the P/E ratio is known as the earnings yield.

Stockopedia explains P/E...

This is is the primary valuation ratio used by most equity investors. A high P/E ratio means that investors are paying more for each unit of net income, so the stock is more expensive compared to one with a lower P/E ratio. The P/E ratio can be seen as being expressed in years, in the sense that it shows the number of years of earnings which would be required to pay back the purchase price, ignoring inflation.
Unlike the EV/EBITDA multiple which is capital structure-neutral, the price-to-earnings ratio reflects the capital structure of the company in question

Diluted EPS figure indicates the earnings per-share a business would have generated if all stock options and other sources of dilution that were currently exercisable are taken into account. This version has been normalised to exclude exceptional income and charges, better reflecting underlying results

Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) compares earnings with capital invested in the company. It is similar to Return on Assets, but takes into account sources of financing.

We calculate this as Operating Income (more or less EBIT) divided by Capital Employed which we define as Fixed Assets + Working Capital or, said another way, Total Assets minus Total Current Liabilities. So, in the case of Vodafone, for example, on a TTM basis, the calculation for 2013 would be:

TTM Operating Income 4,728

Total Assets, Latest Reported: 142,698

Total Current Liabilities, Latest Reported: 31,224

ROCE, TTM: 4.24%

For the avoidance of doubt, this operating income number is stated post exceptionals because of the scope for manipulation and/or managerial subjectivity and discretion in the exceptional items number (companies tend to highlight exceptional losses but not exceptional gains).

It is also post the amortisation of intangibles, and intangibles are correspondingly included in the capital employed figure (this is debatable and there's a good Signet discussion piece on it here - but it's worth remembering that not all intangibles are goodwill and do often relate to the productive capacity of the firm). We also provide Greenblatt ROC which measures the return on tangible capital only.

Stockopedia explains ROCE %...

A high double digit figure often means that the company has a defensible edge versus its competitors (e.g. a strong brand or a unique product). However, because ROCE measures return against the book value of assets, it's worth bearing aware that depreciation can flatter ROCE even though cash flow is constant. This is not the case with CROIC.

Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) compares earnings with capital invested in the company. It is similar to Return on Assets, but takes into account sources of financing.

We calculate this as Operating Income (more or less EBIT) divided by Capital Employed which we define as Fixed Assets + Working Capital or, said another way, Total Assets minus Total Current Liabilities. So, in the case of Vodafone, for example, on a TTM basis, the calculation for 2013 would be:

TTM Operating Income 4,728

Total Assets, Latest Reported: 142,698

Total Current Liabilities, Latest Reported: 31,224

ROCE, TTM: 4.24%

For the avoidance of doubt, this operating income number is stated post exceptionals because of the scope for manipulation and/or managerial subjectivity and discretion in the exceptional items number (companies tend to highlight exceptional losses but not exceptional gains).

It is also post the amortisation of intangibles, and intangibles are correspondingly included in the capital employed figure (this is debatable and there's a good Signet discussion piece on it here - but it's worth remembering that not all intangibles are goodwill and do often relate to the productive capacity of the firm). We also provide Greenblatt ROC which measures the return on tangible capital only.

Stockopedia explains ROCE %...

A high double digit figure often means that the company has a defensible edge versus its competitors (e.g. a strong brand or a unique product). However, because ROCE measures return against the book value of assets, it's worth bearing aware that depreciation can flatter ROCE even though cash flow is constant. This is not the case with CROIC.

Also known as Return on Sales, this value is the Net Income divided by Sales for the same period and expressed as a percentage. This is one of the best indicators of the company's efficiency because net profit takes into consideration all expenses of the company. Investors want the net profit margin to be as high as possible.

Stockopedia explains Net Mgn %...

This is one of the best indicators of the company's efficiency because net profit takes into consideration all expenses of the company. Investors want the net profit margin to be as high as possible. Rising margins are seen as a positive signal although high margins do tend to attract the interests of competitors.

1 year Relative Strength measures a stock's price change over the last year relative to the price change of a market index. It shows the relative outperformance or underperformance of the stock in that timeframe. Different benchmarks are used for different geographic markets which can be reviewed here.

It is calculated dividing the price change of a stock by the price change of the index for the same time period. e.g. A stock falling by 20% versus an index rising 20% would lead to a Relative strength calculation of 100 * ( 80/120 - 1) = -33%

Stockopedia explains RS 1y...

Research indicates that relative strength is a negative signal in the near-term but generally a positive indicator in the medium (6-24 months).

A study by Hancock found a momentum-based strategy outperformed a broad universe of U.S. stocks by nearly 4% per year from 1927-2009. Research has shown that momentum is particularly beneficial when combined with a value style because the two are negatively correlated. Moskowitz and Grinblatt conclude that "A value-momentum combination mitigates the extreme negative return episodes a value investor will face (e.g., the tech boom of the late 1990s and early 2000 or a dismal year like 2008)"

However, momentum-based strategies have been shown to suffer badly during times of extreme market volatility such as the 2008/09 crisis.